Russia says it will ‘deliver a devastating response’ to any hostile action against it in the Baltic region.

“In the event of a further escalation of the military-political situation in the Baltic region, it must be emphasised once again: Russia’s response to the instigators of reckless anti-Russian ventures will be decisive. And they need to know this – it will be devastating for them,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at her weekly briefing.

It’s not exactly clear what she was referring to, but earlier in the day a fire broke out at Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga following a drone attack according to the regional governor.

Separately, NATO scrambled military aircraft due to a possible air threat in Latvia’s airspace near the town of Ludza, close to the Russian border.

Russian airspace unsafe: Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned airlines flying across Russia, saying that Ukraine’s drone operations would make the airspace unsafe.

“Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Tuesday evening. He said that Ukraine was not threatening civilian aviation or individual aircraft.

“There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account,” he said.

Just last week, Zelenskyy threatened the deployment of up to 1,000 long-range drones per day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin branded Zelenskyy’s comments ‘a declaration of state terrorism’.

“They are asking us to resume negotiations… but you don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Putin said in a televised news conference.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022 and has repeatedly managed to strike targets deep inside Russia with drones as part of its defence efforts.

Vessels hit near Odesa

Russia’s military struck two cargo ships carrying military goods, the country’s Defence Ministry said.

The vessels were hit in the port of Pivdennyi, ​near ​the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, ​and ‌in the Black ​Sea.

Energy infrastructure being targeted

A Russian strike caused damage to a thermal power plant in the region of Odesa, southern Ukraine, state energy company Naftogaz said.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s military intelligence said that a strike by the Ukrainian army hit Russia’s Novatek oil complex in the region of Leningrad.

Kyiv and Moscow have been exchanging blows in the past 24 hours, with energy infrastructure being targeted as part of the mutual strikes.

DW